Yesterday I mused that I’ve heard less chatter about Jake Westbrook than most other available starting pitchers. Seems there’s a good reason why. Take it away Ken Rosenthal:

Westbrook will receive a $2 million bonus if traded, and his salary
would increase by a pro-rated portion of $1 million, according to a copy
of his contract obtained by FOXSports.com.

Thus, if Westbrook is traded on July 31, he would be owed nearly $6
million — approximately $2.3 million in trade bonuses and the remaining
portion of his $11 million salary, which would be approximately $3.6
million.

Yikes. That’s the same amount Roy Oswalt will cost in 2010. If you’re really in a race this year, it may be less than 100% nuts to trade for Oswalt and hope you can unload him again in the offseason. Sure, that’s a giant risk, but you can be pretty sure you’re going to get a lot better production out of Oswalt in 2010 than Westbrook, right?

With Odorizzi, the Twins finally have the front-end starter they’ve been seeking all winter. It’s a bargain deal as well, as the 27-year-old righty is under contract through 2019 and didn’t require the club to part with any of their top-shelf prospects in the trade. Odorizzi will be looking to stage a comeback in 2018 after a dismal performance with the Rays last year, during which he eked out a career-worst 4.14 ERA, 3.8 BB/9 and 8.0 SO/9 through 143 1/3 innings.

Palacios, 21, ranked no. 27 in the Twins’ system last season. He split his year between Single-A Cedar Rapids and High-A Fort Myers, raking a combined .296/.333/.454 with 13 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 539 plate appearances. He’s expected to continue developing at shortstop, though he’s also seen limited time at second and third base during his four-year career in the minors.